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Saturday, August 24, 2013

The Rise of Portuguese "Arte Urbana"

Since
the early post revolution murals, in mids 1970's, street art in Portugal has emerged
from a mere political statement to a brand new expression of global and contemporary
awareness brought by a fresh generation of artists.

70's Political Mural - Centro de Documentação do 25 de Abril archive

Although
political murals have recently re-emerged due to the national’s economical
downfall and total disillusion of politicians, it is nowadays more common to
observe new movements or single acting artists trying to transmit a totally
different set of messages while always trying to keep a touch of portugalidade,
a national touch, doing this through a new approach of techniques, like the
modern use of "azulejos", the original
portuguese tiles, or Portuguese inspired theme choice.

Contemporary Political Mural - Nomen

Although
"arte urbana" continues to be generally viewed as
marginal vandalism and a form of ruining private or public spaces - still as it
is mainly composed of spray tags and poor graffiti - artists like Vhils, Eime,
Paulo Arraiano or Add Fuel have emerged to give street art a all new meaning
using innovative techniques (Vhils, for example, literally sculpts his works
within the wall), giving a new format to traditional know-how (like the
mentioned use of azulejos by
Add Fuel), or displaying the more conventional methods like complex graffiti,
paste-ups or stencil works.

Vhils - Sr. Bonança, Walk&Talk. Rabo de Peixe, Açores

Vhils - Alfâma

Unfortunately,
most of the compositions of these artists continue to be almost totally
unsupported, but there is hope in the horizon: since about five to six years now,
major cities like Lisboa, Porto or Aveiro woke up to the new street art scene and
started to endorse artists (Lisboa's municipality created the GAU - Galeria
deArte Urbana to
promote the urban arts) and sponsor events that gradually change the mind set
of general public about what street art really represents, allowing simultaneously
some artists to stand out. In 2011, for example, GAU made it possible to renowned
foreign artists such as Conor Harrington, Brad Downey, Momo or Bastardilla to
leave their mark in Lisboa, while boosting the work of national artists as well.

AddFuel - Lisboa

Paulo Arraiano - Pampero Public Art Project. Lisboa

Other
events are privately organised and evolve most of the times solely thanks to the
strength and determination of a small group of individuals, like Walk&Talk
that is held since 2010 in São Miguel's island, in the Açores, an event that
has been growing and counted, in this year’s edition, with the presence of
world artist like Los Angeles collective Cyrcle, Nespoon from Poland, France's
El Tono or Pelucas from Spain. Other events like Fusing Culture Experience, in Figueira
da Foz, or Putrica, in Freamunde, try to integrate street art among others
activities such as gastronomy or sports making it accessible for otherwise
uninterested crowds.

Daniel Eime + Add Fuel - Mental Idade. Lisboa

Daniel Eime - Calvário. Putrica. Freamunde

Daniel Eime - Fusing Culture Experience. Figueira da Foz

The
growing awareness and acceptance of street art is such that recently a campaign
against domestic violence, mentored by Rui Soares of Tailors agency, displayed
large scale paste-ups pictures of battered women in some Lisboa's buildings. The
active participation of Portuguese artists in street art focused events, in Portugal
or abroad, also promotes the contact with artists from other parts of the world,
encouraging an effective exchange of experiences, cultures, techniques or ideas
about the art they all love. The gradual evolution of street art in Portugal
only benefits from it.

Tailors Agency Domestic Violence Campaign, Rui Soares

Regrettably,
being Portuguese is also to usually give more emphasis to international art and
artists than our own and, by being so, it is normally easier to "outside"
artists to get the back-up and endorsement they need than Portuguese ones. This
situation has somehow to change in order to rightly promote "arte
urbana".

There
is a long road that lies ahead for street art in Portugal, but the gradual and general
recognition of artists like the ones we mentioned and also the continuous and
prolific work of many unknown others that are still marginally working alone in
the streets at night, surely inspire them all to continue their street art
labour of love. At least, that's what we are all hoping for.

Footnote:
Special thanks to Daniel Eime and all his help and input on writing this piece,
keep on the great work and Rui Soares of Tailors agency, keep on betting on
street art and its artists.

Hi, I tried to found out who painted the "Pray for Portugal" mural, but did not found out at time to publish. Thanks for the input and, if you are the artist, keep one the great work. Sorry that I did mentioned you.